TOURNAMENT AMBASSADOR KERBER OUT OF LUCK – LUCKY LOSER NIEMEIER PROVIDES BIG SURPRISE AND GREAT ATMOSPHERE

Angelique Kerber turned around and waved to her fans. The crowd on the Spielbank Bad Homburg Centre Court, which was also sold out with 3700 spectators on the second day of the main draw, gave the tournament ambassador a rousing ovation after her 5-7, 3-6 opening loss to Diana Shnaider. “I made too many mistakes in the big moments. Nevertheless, I tried to get into the match until the end, find my rhythm and somehow win the match. But unfortunately, it wasn’t to be,” said Angelique Kerber, who was nevertheless confident ahead of Wimbledon, which starts on 1 July: “I’ll try to take the positives from this.”

Lucky loser Jule Niemeier had earlier caused a big surprise at the Bad Homburg Open powered by Solarwatt when she defeated world number nine Maria Sakkari 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4). With two double faults, the Greek finished off a thrilling duel that lasted 2:36 hours in glorious weather. An impressive time for grass court tennis! The third set alone took over 1:24 hours.

Jule Niemeier against Paula Badosa in the round of 16 on Tuesday

“The atmosphere on Centre Court was really, really good. It’s great fun to play in Germany,” said Jule Niemeier after her third win against a top ten player. The 2022 Wimbledon quarter-finalist found out just a few hours before her match on Monday morning that she would be the lucky loser in the main draw after Elisabetta Cocciaretto (Italy) withdrew due to illness.

Jule Niemeier had lost in the qualifying round on Saturday as a wild card holder and had even travelled back to her hometown Regensburg. The following day, she returned to Hesse and the Frankfurt football stadium, where the world number 96 watched Germany’s final EURO group match against Switzerland (1-1) on Sunday evening. It was perhaps a good omen that Niclas Füllkrug, a striker for her favourite club Borussia Dortmund, scored the equaliser just before the final whistle.

Caroline Wozniacki and Elina Svitolina go into extra time

On Tuesday, Jule Niemeier will meet former world number two Paula Badosa from Spain at 4 p.m. (Eurosport, SKY, sportschau.de) for a place in the quarter-finals. Lucky loser Tamara Korpatsch missed out on a place in the last sixteen despite a committed performance against fourth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil (1-6, 6-7). Defending champion Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic defeated Clara Burel of France 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 6-1.

The match between former number one Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) and last year’s Wimbledon semi-finalist Elina Svitolina from Ukraine was abandoned at 6:3, 6:7 (4:7), 1:2 due to darkness. The match will resume on Tuesday.